DC By the Book

Excerpt: As the blue-and-white streamlined passenger train Southerner made its way from Union Station in Washington, D.C., to Penn Station in New York City, Maggie stretched in her seat. She gazed out over the Chesapeake Bay, watching the gray clouds begin to melt away. The sky turned lighter, a filmy white, and then, finally, the deep blue of the American and British flags. It had been twenty-five days since the attack on Pearl Harbor and ten days since she’d arrived in the United States. Maggie reached into her handbag for the paper with the code. Even with Mrs. Roosevelt’s additional material, she didn’t have enough to break it, she realized.

Excerpt: When Maggie reached the map room in the White House, she un-pinned her hat and took off her gloves. Her hair was freshly washed and twisted into a bun; she was wearing a wool suit and a crisp white blouse. She felt like a different person than the woman who’d battled Byrd Prentiss only the night before. Prentiss was dead. Wendell was still alive. And the First Lady’s name was still unblemished. The British-U.S. alliance would continue unimpeded by scandal.

Excerpt: Lafayette Square had been named in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, the young Frenchman who had befriended George Washington and fought on the side of the colonials in the Revolutionary War. The seven-acre park north of the White House was designed in picturesque style with fountains and statuary, now shrouded in fog, cold and opaque. Overhead, the darkening sky was an eerie green, while black cumulus clouds gathered on the horizon. Tom was already waiting on a bench by the statue of Lafayette in the southeast corner of the park when Maggie arrived with a brown paper sack of Mrs. Roosevelt’s honeydrop cookies.

Excerpt: With John away, Maggie and David had even more work to do, helping Mr. Churchill prepare for his speech. But he was unexpectedly amiable, relaxed even, as Maggie brushed the lint off the lapels of his three-piece pin-striped suit. “There, sir,” she said. “Mrs. Churchill would approve.” They left for the line of long, shiny, black sedans that would take them to the Capitol. “It’s big,” David remarked as they walked up the white marble stairs, damp and slilck, of the neoclassical building. “Yes, one of the District buildings that survived the Brits in 1812.” Maggie pointed to the top of the high dome. “Freedom is one of my favorite statues.”

Excerpt: “I’ve thought of Wendell Cotton as a public figure – it’s good to be reminded he’s a real person.” Maggie walked beside Tom to the entrance of the Mayflower. The damp pavement, now freezing over in the cold night air, glistened in the hotel’s lights. “He seems like a decent young man,” Tom said. “I don’t know everything about his case, but I do know that jury looked suspicious. He deserves a retrial.”

Excerpt: The President and First Lady had decided to celebrate Christmas Day at Foundry Methodist Church. The First Couple rode in the first long black sedan with Harry Hopkins, while the Prime Minister, David, and Maggie followed in another just behind. Together, they formed a queue of shiny automobiles driving past Lafayette and Farragut Squares to Foundry, a rusticated dove-gray granite church on the corner of Sixteenth and P Streets.

Excerpt: The streets were deserted, with people at home or in church. They dashed through the cold rain under Tom’s umbrella to Blanche’s apartment on Massachusetts Avenue, Maggie leading him through the side doors. She opened the lock, once again, with her hairpin. “So, that’s what they teach you at Wellesley College, huh?” “Yes, lock picking – along with Shakespeare, French, and tennis,” she muttered as the pin finally pressed against the catch.

Excerpt: He took Maggie to lunch in Chinatown, Tao’s on H Street NW, between Sixth and Seventh Streets. It was warm inside Tao’s and smelled deliciously of ginger and garlic. An article from Life magazine was pinned up on the wall, next to the flags of the United States and China: “How to Tell Japs from the Chinese – Angry Citizens Victimize Allies with Emotional Outbursts at Allies.”

Excerpt: There was an invocation by His Excellency, the Most Reverend Joseph Corrigan, the rector of Catholic University, then introductory remarks by the Honorable Guy Mason, Commissioner of the District of Columbia. And then, what everyone was waiting for – Christmas greetings from the President and Mrs. Roosevelt. “Our strongest weapon in the war is that connection of the dignity and brotherhood which Christmas Day symbolizes,” the President said, standing with the help of two aides.

Excerpt: In the District, it was cold and damp. As the sun set, the silver clouds became touched with orange and the air turned even more chill. But that didn’t stop nearly twenty thousand people from wanting to get a glimpse of the White House Christmas tree – this year on the South Lawn – and hear the President and Prime Minster speak. “No cameras, no packages!” the security staff called as people made their way through bare trees in the fading light, a crescent moon tangled in strands of fog. As the Marine band played “Joy to the World” and “Adeste fideles,” choirs from a multitude of churches sang.

Excerpt: “Americans are so…loud,” John observed. Maggie knew exactly what he meant, but she wasn’t in the mood. “The United States is vast. You haven’t seen anything. There are mountains, plains, prairies. It’s a big place. People need big voices.” As they walked through Lafayette Park, she asked, “What was it you needed to talk to Mr. Churchill about?” “Oh, that,” John said, putting up his black Fulton umbrella as the raindrops fell faster. “Washington’s weather – not so different from London’s.”

Excerpt: When Maggie arrived at Peacock Alley at the Willard Hotel, damp and cold, parcels in hand, Edith Hope was already waiting. Fringed lamps lit the long, carpeted corridor, and the potted topiary trees were hung with tiny silver lights and glinting Christmas ornaments. A harpist in the corner played “Silent Night.”

Excerpt: U.S. flags were everywhere, flapping from poles, tacked up to windows, graffitied on the sides of buildings, even chalked onto the sidewalks. Breathless, Maggie made it to Woodward & Lothrop and wandered the floors, luxuriating in the piles of plenty, especially after witnessing the dearth of merchandise in the department stores in London. For women, the store had jewelry, slippers, quilted robes, and nightgowns. For me, there were arrays of smoking jackets, pajamas, White Owl cigars, shaving kits, and shirts.

Excerpt: While John dined in Dupont Circle, Mrs. Roosevelt and Maggie made their way through the fog in Mrs. Roosevelt’s unmarked sedan to Shaw, one of the District’s colored neighborhoods. Once she’d parked, they shook off the cold and damp and entered the Metropolitan Baptist Church.

Excerpt: “If you’re keen on going to a sporting event, I’m seeing Aunt Edith on Christmas Eve day – holidays with her often feel like ten rounds in the ring,” Maggie announced. “I’ll be going before the Prime Minister’s speech – I’ve already cleared it with him. We’re meeting at Peacock Alley and the Willard for tea. Would you care to join us?”

Excerpt: Blanche’s apartment was a faux-Tudor building on Massachusetts Avenue at Twelfth Street, now covered in cottony fog. Mrs. Roosevelt was about to pull into the hazy circular drive that left to the main entrance when Maggie asked, “Maybe we should park on the street, ma’am?”

Excerpt: Though the neoclassical Mayflower Hotel was considered the grand dame of Connecticut Avenue, her rooftop now bristled with lookouts against aerial attack. The doors and windows, and even the massive skylights, were fitted with blackout shades. Still, inside, it was elegant and opulent – the lobby’s gilt mirrors shone, marble gleamed, and chandeliers shimmered.

Excerpt: As they talked about Christmas, their car approached the White House through the murky darkness. Blackout curtains hung at each window. Sentry boxes were set up at driveway entrances and along the perimeter fences.

Excerpt: On a bridge near the Lincoln Memorial, machine guns had been mounted, and soldiers patrolled. Outside the Jefferson Memorial, helmeted guards carried rifles with bayonets. Temporary wooden housing had sprung up on the Mall for the sudden influx of war workers.